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College Bans White Staff Members From Diversity Happy Hour

A shocking invitation letter from a Washington college banned white people from attending a staff happy hour. The letter came from South Puget Sound Community College in the town of Olympia and was in regards to see a happy hour designed to “build support and community for people of color.” But the taxpayer-funded university enraged most of the 300 employees at the college by stating in no uncertain terms that white people couldn’t attend.

Even worse, the invitation was mailed out by the college’s Diversity and Equity Center. The e-mail advised white staff members that “If you want to create space for white folks to meet and work on racism, white supremacy, and white privilege to better our campus community and yourselves, please feel free to do just that.” Diversity staff member Karama Blackhorn later refused to back down from the invitation by later telling local reporters “that space is not for white people. That space is for people of color.”

Blackhorn later apologized for her choice of wording, but not the sentiment of the letter. Kellie Purce Braseth, the school’s dean of college relations, later apologized on behalf of the college and said that the whites-only happy hour had been canceled. “It was obviously a mistake,” she said. “It was badly worded. If you want to come, you should be able to come. That just makes [for] a richer conversation

Ironically, the university also requires students to complete a diversity requirement in order to graduate with a degree.